No matter what you think about the wireless Internet,
the mobile data industry, and the dozens of companies pushing their services,
it's clear that businesses and consumers will continue to want more and better
access to content and services on mobile devices.
Argue one analyst's predictions of adoption rates and timing over another's,
but it seems irrefutable that widespread adoption of wireless Internet-capable
devices is on the horizon.
Unfortunately, the predominant approach to wireless data solutions on mobile
devices has been misguided. Although it may seem logical to port the
browser-based wired Internet model found on the PC to mobile devices, the
truth is that there's almost nothing in common between a PC and a PDA, a pager
or a smart phone.
There is one similarity, and it's a critical one:
Today's mobile devices are powerful computing platforms, even when viewed from
the perspective of the recent past. Back in the mid-'90s, the Windows 95
platform was designed around a target PC with a 386SX Intel chip and 4MB of RAM.
Need I say more about the success of that platform in enabling thousands of
successful applications to transform the end-user experience and send adoption
rates skyward?
If we look at the computational guts of the popular RIM BlackBerry 957
device, we find a 386 Intel chip and 5MB of RAM. And what are software
developers doing with all that computing power? Enabling corporate e-mail users
to fulfill their "crackberry" addiction.
If the industry looked at mobile devices as mobile computing devices,
while taking into account the capabilities and limitations of the wireless
networks they've built today, they could actually deliver a user experience that
is compelling enough to drive massive adoption and drive bottom-line
productivity and efficiency levels within enterprises.
"And," you ask, "What would the ideal solution look like?" Here are the
must-haves:
�Move beyond the browser
model. Browsing was perfect for the wired desktop Internet, but it is far
from perfect for the wireless Internet. Difficult data entry, small display
screens, and high-latency wireless network connections all contribute to the
challenges of relying on a server-centric browser model for delivering mobile
data.
Not to mention the fact that people don't particularly want to browse and
search when they're on the go; they want targeted, relevant results that they
can access even when they're not connected to the network.
Emphasizing tapping instead of graffiti, data reuse instead of data re-entry,
and local processing instead of network access could dramatically alter a
person's experience on a smart device. A smart client/smart server approach
could leverage client-side software to create a person's request by
intelligently and efficiently gathering necessary information while offline.
Only then would the wireless network be accessed to transmit the request to the
server for processing and to access any necessary databases.
�Minimize dependence on network
connectivity. Carriers are investing billions in next-generation wireless
networks. The promise of faster public networks (2.5G and 3G) sounds really
exciting. But those networks are not here yet, and even when they are, building
enough infrastructure to ensure complete wireless coverage around the globe
isn't easy (think about tunnels, or elevators, or many office buildings) and is
destined to be an ongoing challenge. Any useful wireless data technology should
be designed with this limitation in mind.
A desirable solution must optimize the
use of each data transmission by collecting more data up front from the user,
thus minimizing the need to use the wireless network in the first place. That
way, if a connection breaks, the software would remember where the user left off
rather than restarting from square one when the connection resumes.
And if people want to access their data and modify it when there isn't a
wireless connection, they should be able to do so. No more dependency on the
network every step of the way.
�Make it worth the
investment. Compelling applications are a must. The same way the desktop
PC needed spreadsheets and word processing applications to be truly useful,
wireless Internet devices need applications that are relevant and truly useful
in the mobile environment. Examples include applications that allow people to
book business travel, order sales inventory, or manage customer-relationship
data. In other words, activities and tasks that businesses and consumers find
complementary to the current wireless killer app: e-mail.
Applications should work across multiple operating systems, from the Palm OS
to the Pocket PC to RIM to J2ME, and they should take advantage of the separate
devices' and OS' key abilities. A broad range of devices using a variety of
operating systems will be prevalent in the marketplace for at least several
years.
I wouldn't bet my livelihood on one winner in the short term, and it's
conceivable that there won't ever be one winner. Some large and powerful
companies lost in the desktop and browser wars; they are not going to give up
the wireless battlefield without a fight.
There is a huge opportunity for companies building "middleware," the software
layer that sits between the mobile device OS and the applications running on the
device. This software layer will enable development of compelling applications
that leverage the aforementioned points and are critical drivers of business and
consumer adoption of the wireless Internet.
And I promise you, if you build it right this time, they will come.
